Walking Home From Something by Ashley Bunton

A deer follows me

On my walk I wear a green coat

This is maybe the best thing

That has ever happened to me

I invite the deer in to share

My apple snacks

But it just stands there

Outside the gate the world is

Staring back at me blinking

Its solid gold eyelashes over

Black eyes I can’t see

My reflection in

You come in then promise you won’t make

Fun of me for having a table and chairs

Like a restaurant I just ordered online

Stuff for a life to replace everything

I gave away for slowing

To a place for sitting

And eating three meals a day

My doctor said I think

You’ll like it if I write it down

On a note of what to do when you can’t

I’ve had enough sandwich filling me

Just enough to not be hungry

I notice the deer has knees like apples

And I have knees

With bruises for a good reason

For this earth and these plants

That give us something to kneel down to

Some whole grain to chew on

Something to walk home from

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Ashley Bunton is working on a few things and is currently based in Moab, Utah, where she stays steady writing. You can read more of her writing forthcoming this summer in a solstice anthology published by Quillkeepers Press and a zine designed with Paranoid Tree. You can find her mostly in the desert talking to animals and bones or on Twitter @ashbunton